UK Barista Championships gets underway

Preparations are underway at La Cimbali HQ for the Specialty Coffee Association UK (SCA UK) Barista Championship 2023, which kicks this month with preliminary heats in five locations across the UK.

As official gold sponsor, Cimbali will provide a M200 GT1 for competing baristas to use live on stage and in the practice area at each phase of the championship, from the initial heats through to the grand final, which Cimbali will host at events@270, Elstree on 31 March -1 April 2023.

Cimbali’s UK BC roadshow team will be travelling the breadth of the UK throughout February to ensure the safe delivery and installation of Cimbali M200 GT1, calibrating two machines to competition ready standard for each regional heat. A third machine will be installed for coffee sponsor, Grumpy Mule, to allow freshly brewed coffee to be serve throughout the Championships.

The Cimbali team, led by Maxime Herbaut (national sales and training manager), comprises regional sales coordinators Steve Gadby, Lucie Rezacova and Laszlo Hollo, as well as Nathan Adeniregun (after sales trainer), Scott Lannon (regional sales manager) and a local Cimbali field engineer.

In addition to machine set up and clean downs/prep between use, the team will provide ongoing technical support throughout the championships, ensuring each machine is set up to SCA Competition standards. Namely, each individual group boiler will be set to the temperature chosen by the competitor prior to his/her practice, the default temperature being 93˚C which can be adjusted by 0.5 increment.

Each competitor can choose the position of their drip tray, high –medium – low respectively 75, 115, 140mm from the portafilter spout to the tray. The default position being medium. The machines will be set to 9 bar pressure with free flow set button only. No shot timer will be set on the machine and no pre-infusion or pre-wet will be in use, and each competitor can choose on which side of the machine they want to have their competition grinder positioned before their practice.

Max Herbaut (pictured), national sales and training manager for La Cimbali said: “There is an incredible amount of work that goes on behind the scenes at Cimbali to ensure we are ‘competition ready’, not least the logistics involved in ensuring our M200 GT1 machines are set up and ready to go for every heat.

“We’ve therefore picked a top team to support the SCA, with a fantastic range of technical experience and know how between them and this will help ensure the smooth running of events from the heats through to the finals.

“The SCA and competitors can rest assured they are in very safe hands with Cimbali’s top talented UKBC support team, who right now, are very keen to get the show on the road.”

SCA UK Barista Championships

Regional Heats

Thursday, 2 February - Manchester (Heart & Graft), 30 Holyoak St, Manchester M40 1HB.

Friday, 10 February - Chichester, The Council House, North St, Chichester PO19 1LQ (with a SCA UK Community Latte Art Throwdown on Thurs 9 February).

Thursday, 16 February - Boss & Brew Academy, Wales Millennium Centre, Bute Pl, Cardiff, CF10 5AL, with an event the night before (details tbc).

Wednesday, 22 or Thursday 23 February - Glasgow (tbc).

Wednesday, 1 March - events@270 Centennial Park, Elstree, Herts WD6 3ST (Cimbali HQ).

Free spectator tickets are available for all the regional heats at https:// www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/sca-ukchapter-40384767273